Abner Mares: “A Win Over Moreno Puts Me On Another Level, Donaire Beats Nishioka”

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    Abner Mares proves he’s always willing to fight the best

    Being the first home grown champion of one of the most biggest and prominent promotional companies in boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, might warrant some easier fights for that boxer. However for Abner Mares, its an honor, but he doesn’t want to stray away from what has made him the fighter he is today; always willing to take on the best.

    “ It’s an honor to be the first homegrown champion from zero to becoming a champion. It’s a great accomplishment really,  but I want to fight the best, it’s my job. I have my time after the fight to take it easy and  to take a break,” Mares told ThaBoxingVoice.com

    His next fight will take place on November 10th in Los Angeles at the Staples Center against Anselmo Moreno, a very technically sound southpaw that’s  been known to make his opponents look bad. It’s a fight that Mares says his handlers were not 100% convinced he should take but to Mares, it was the one he wanted to take. “There were sometimes we had to sit down and think, do we really want this fight, do we need it? My manager Frank Espinoza and my dad said its not the fight you should fight right now, maybe take a tune up. I was thinking my next fight after (Eric) Morel would be Nonito (Donaire), but once the fight with Nishioka got made, I was left with nothing. It was either Moreno, Wilfredo Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, and we even looked at Jorge Arce. But I thought Moreno is the biggest fight for me and I said why not? It’s a fight people want to watch and have been asking for. It’s only right I give my fans what they want. It’s a great name to have on my belt and a win over him will take me to a whole different level.”

    This is the fight Abner feels could make him a superstar but is a fight that seems to be 50/50 down the line in picking a winner. Abner’s strategy is simple in many ways. “Making the fight really hard for him is key, making him uncomfortable and pressuring him and not letting him control the pace and fight from the outside. A lot of fighters avoid fights like this because he doesn’t get hit and get touched and for that they call him the ghost. I’m excited to be the first one to touch and hit the ghost. It’s a type of style where you have to use plan A, B, and C against a guy like Moreno,” explained Mares.

    The 122 lb division is a very interesting and talented division with many names to make good fights. Mares won and was a part of the Showtime’s Bantamweight tournament that essentially gave some recognition to the fighters in the lower weight classes that usually don’t get the same hoopla as some of the other divisions. With rival promoters not being able to make fights, Abner would welcome another similar style tournament for 122, if just for the experience alone.

    “Super middleweight and the bantamweight tournaments definitely helped the sport, and I think the fans would love nothing more than a super bantamweight tournament. Experience from the tournament has helped me know that I’m ready to fight at this level, I can get better but I know from that tournament, I know I belong,” stated Mares.

    Mares moved up in weight because he had beaten everybody at 118 and those he didn’t get a chance to fight had moved up to 122 lbs; one name in particular being Nonito Donaire. Donaire himself, has a tough fight on his hands this Saturday against veteran, Toshiaki Nishioka. Mares says this is a tough fight but tabs Donaire to be victorious. “I respect Nonito, it’s a tough fight. Nishioka hasn’t fought in a year, I’m going to go with Nonito.  He’s in his moment right now, Nishioka is 37 years old and on his way out. He will give Nonito a tough fight. If I were a betting man, I’m going Nonito.”

    If Mares had it his way, his fight with Moreno and Donaire’s fight with Nishiokoa would lead to the winner fighting the winner and the loser fighting the loser, which would make for two more competitive fights in the division. He feels a  fight with Donaire would be exciting. “Our style with Donaire’s meshes well. It’d be fight of the year, some hell of a fight type of war, but I gotta take it back to reality. He’s fighting Nishioka and I’m fighting Moreno. Hopefully we fight down the road, but I got a tough fight ahead of me. I try not to think about what Nonito does. I’m trying to build myself and take care of what’s in front of me.”

    In front of him is a tall task in Anselmo Moreno. Mares knows that many people are picking against him, and he doesn’t mind because as he says, “I’m the one stepping in the ring, not them. One thing I can take advantage of is him believing all that, he’s the best and he can’t be touched. That will only help me out. My footwork will give him problems. You can’t give him time to prepare his punches and think,  but its not only a hard fight for me, it’s hard fight for him,” stated Mares.

    Mares is confident that he will be the victor come next month and will continue to do what he does best, and that’s fight the best.  “People ask me if I’m cutting my career short by facing these top guys, I say no,  it makes me a better fighter. Whenever I call it quits, I want to be remembered as a guy who fought nothing but the best. That’s the way to do it and the way it should be. Fighting champions and top contenders like back in the day. I’m not even going way back in the day, but I’m talking about the 90s, when the best fought the best. I want to be remembered like that and above all respected.”

    The respect is there, next comes the victory, which if you didn’t already know, is no easy task.

     

    For Full Audio of This Interview Click Here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/10/07/abner-mares-carlos-molina-don-da-bomb-george